Lou Orlando
NEW YORK — Nearly a month after the 2026 PWHL Draft, the New York Sirens welcomed first-round pick Emma Peschel to the Big Apple in style.
The Sirens held Peschel’s first in-market appearance at one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Flanked by general manager Pascal Daoust and head coach Greg Fargo, the No. 7 overall pick spoke with media on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, more than 1,000 feet above the heart of Manhattan.
“I’m a city girl at heart,” said Peschel, who grew up in Edina, Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis. “Being in the biggest city in the world in your 20s, I mean, there’s not much better. Obviously, joining the Sirens is huge, but living in New York is going to be so fun.”
Entering draft day, the Ohio State defender sensed that New York could be a potential destination.
“I knew that I was kind of projected around where they were picking. I had talked to Pascal and Greg a little bit before the draft, so I kind of knew that they were an option.”
Peschel was the fourth defender selected July 17, behind Caroline Harvey (No. 1 overall), Laila Edwards (No. 4 overall), and Nelli Laitinen (No. 6 overall). Coveted for her polished two-way game and 5-foot-10 frame, she should strengthen a Sirens blue line that already boasts considerable professional experience.
The 22-year-old enters the PWHL during a transformational offseason as the League expands to 12 teams, up from eight the season before.
“I think it’s one of the best times to join in the history of the League,” she said. “And seeing the draft class that’s come in, we have a lot of talent, and I think we’ll make a pretty big impact in the League right away.”
Peschel appears well-positioned to do just that. Daoust confirmed that the two-time All-American will have an opportunity to earn a top-four role out of training camp.
“We know what she can bring on the ice,” he told media after Peschel’s introduction. “She’s joining a crew — the D-corps — we have a couple of vets that will not only give her the opportunity to shine and to be herself, but also take away the pressure of a first-rounder.”
Peschel taking advantage of Ohio State connections
Being a Buckeye has its perks — especially in the landscape of women’s hockey.
Under the guidance of coach Nadine Muzerall, Ohio State has cemented itself as a national powerhouse, reaching the NCAA championship game in five consecutive seasons.
It’s no coincidence that the program has become one of the PWHL’s premier talent pipelines. Thirty Buckeyes have been drafted since the League’s inception in 2023, including five in 2026.
Peschel has already tapped into that resource. The Sirens’ first-round pick said Tuesday that she recently reconnected with former teammate Paetyn Levis, a member of New York’s inaugural 2024 roster, at a camp in Minnesota.
“I was literally just with her last week, so I was able to kind of chat with her about where to live and that whole kind of situation, and kind of get her experience as well.”
She also spoke with former Sirens forward Maddi Wheeler, who spent her final collegiate season at Ohio State. A fourth-round pick (No. 27 overall) in 2025, Wheeler quickly carved out an important role in New York’s forward group before signing a two-year contract with PWHL San Jose in Phase 2 of expansion this offseason.
“Those resources are huge, and I’m planning to reach out to them more and more,” Peschel noted.
She won’t have to look far for familiar faces. Peschel joins three former Buckeyes already on New York’s roster: Levis, Lauren Bernard, and Clair DeGeorge. She spent one season with Levis and two with Bernard at Ohio State. DeGeorge graduated the spring before Peschel arrived.
In 2024, Bernard and Peschel helped Ohio State claim its second national championship, capping a 35-4-0 season with a 1-0 win over Casey O’Brien’s Wisconsin Badgers in the title game.
The dynamic changed last fall, when Peschel and O’Brien were teammates, not adversaries, on the United States’ 2025 Rivalry Series roster ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Neither ultimately earned a spot on USA’s official Olympic squad, but they’ll join forces once again in New York.
O’Brien and Elle Hartje were among the first to welcome Peschel to the Sirens at the 2026 PWHL Draft in Detroit.
“It was nice to be able to talk to them afterwards and kind of hear how their experiences have been so far,” Peschel added.
Peschel also competed against Fargo and star forward Kristyna Kaltounkova twice in college, opening her sophomore season with back-to-back games at Colgate.
Sirens ‘not shocked’ by controversial PWHL draft order
The PWHL didn’t do the Sirens any favors this offseason. Despite finishing second-to-last in the regular season with 36 points (9-3-3-15), New York received the No. 7 overall pick in the League’s 2026 entry draft.
The Vancouver Goldeneyes landed the No. 1 overall pick by virtue of a tiebreaker in the Gold Plan standings, racking up five points following their elimination. The Seattle Torrent received the No. 2 overall pick as the PWHL’s worst regular-season team, finishing with 31 points (8-1-5-16) in their inaugural campaign.
But while many expected the Sirens to slot in at No. 3, the League instead awarded picks Nos. 3-6 to the four expansion teams — a departure from the previous year, when Seattle and Vancouver selected at the end of every round behind all six existing clubs.
Daoust didn’t seem eager to dwell on the club’s perceived misfortune.
“If you’re asking me, ‘would you have liked to pick third?’ Of course,” he said candidly. “But we were told early in the process that the draft order will be announced later.”
New York, like every PWHL team besides the Gold Plan-winning Goldeneyes, did not learn its draft position until the League announced the official order on June 15, roughly 48 hours before selections began. Still, Daoust said he was not blindsided by the controversial decision.
The Sirens mapped out two primary draft plans once the season came to a close, both dubbed “Plan A” by Daoust. One had New York picking third in every round; the other centered around the No. 7 overall pick, which the club ultimately used to select Peschel.
“It changed the first round, but it changed every other round,” Daoust explained. “We were prepared just in case, and so we were not shocked at the end.”
New York came away from the draft with four forwards and two defenders, including Finnish prospect Elisa Holopainen and Yale captain Carina DiAntonio.
Daoust confident about O’Brien extension: ‘We’re gonna have her back for sure’
O’Brien is a restricted free agent this offseason and due for a well-deserved pay raise after leading all rookies in scoring in her first professional season. Daoust reiterated Tuesday that New York is not concerned about finalizing an extension with its top-line center.
“We’re gonna have her back for sure. She knows we want her back. We know that she loves to be in New York, so it should be easy.”
O’Brien received a qualifying offer from New York in Phase 1, giving the Sirens exclusive negotiating rights with the All-Rookie Team forward. Daoust stated in June that the club would table contract discussions with the 23-year-old until the six-phase expansion process concluded.
“As we said a month ago before the draft, we were not even putting tons of energy because it was a qualifying offer just to standardize everything,” Daoust explained Tuesday. “So I don’t know if it’s gonna be like full speed now or if we’re gonna just push it like after the summer break, so that agents, players, GMs, coaches, we have maybe a week or two away from our phone.”
Nonetheless, the expectation is that O’Brien will re-up with the Sirens before training camp, likely on a multi-year contract.
New York already has 17 players under contract for 2026-27. Daoust said that the League has informed teams to stop at 19 contracts before training camp, confirming a report from Ian Kennedy in early June.
The Sirens have seven unsigned players: O’Brien and all six selections from the 2026 PWHL Draft. New York also extended a training camp invite to veteran forward Sarah Bujold, according to Kennedy.
Teams await further clarity on official roster sizes. The PWHL is reportedly considering an expanded active roster, either to 24 or 25 players, along with a smaller reserve player pool. During the League’s first three seasons, clubs could carry up to three players on reserve contracts in addition to a 23-player active roster.
